Bio. of Harold J. McCoy, M. D.

A Narrative History of The People of Iowa with SPECIAL TREATMENT OF THEIR CHIEF ENTERPRISES IN EDUCATION, RELIGION, VALOR, INDUSTRY, BUSINESS, ETC. by EDGAR RUBEY HARLAN, LL. B., A. M. Curator of the Historical, Memorial and Art Department of Iowa Volume IV THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Inc. Chicago and New York 1931

HAROLD J. MCCOY, M. D. The broad field of medical and surgical science offers so many activities and opportunities in its different branches that a large number of the fraternity have applied their studies and energies to some special line, although naturally a broad knowledge of general medicine and surgery is essential to the man who seeks success in any branch. Among the modern specialists of Des Moines, one who has won prosperity and position through natural talent, close application and constant study is Dr. Harold J. McCoy, who has specialized in the diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat in this city since 1920.

Doctor McCoy was born on a ranch in Chase County, Nebraska, December 17, 1891, and is a son of Sherman E. and Susan (Werts) McCoy. His paternal grandfather was Maj. A. M. McCoy, an officer in the Union army during the war between the states and for many years a resident of Iowa, where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits, mainly in Lucas County. The maternal grandfather of Doctor McCoy was John Werts, a native of Ohio, who settled in Lucas County, Iowa, in young manhood and passed the rest of his life in farming.

Sherman E. McCoy was born in Lucas County, Iowa, where he was reared and educated, but as a young man moved to Chase County, Nebraska, took up land and developed a large ranch in the vicinity of the City of Imperial. He and his wife are now living in retirement, but Mr. McCoy still operates a large amount of land in the same community, of which he is the owner, and the supervisor of which is constantly under his attention. He is a man of high character and public spirit, of good business judgment and integrity, and has the confidence and esteem of the people of his community. To Mr. and Mrs. McCoy have been born five children, Harold J. being the eldest child and only boy. In politics he is a Democrat, as is his father.

The public schools of Nebraska supplied Harold J. McCoy with his early education, and after he had attended and graduated from the Congregational Academy, of Franklin, that state, he taught in a rural school for one year. He then entered Drake University, where he spent three years, following which he became a student in the University of Chicago, graduating therefrom with the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1916. His medical studies were then prosecuted at the University of Illinois, he being graduated as a member of the class of 1919, degree of Doctor of Medicine, and spent one year as an interne at Mercy Hospital, Chicago. Having specialized in eye, ear, nose and throat at Chicago, he became assistant to Dr. C. M. Werts, with whom he was associated in practice for three and one-half years. Since then he has practiced alone at Des Moines, with offices in the Bankers Trust Building, and has built up a large and representative patronage, attracted by his reliability, professional talent and attractive personality. He is a member of the Polk County Medical Society, the Iowa State medical Society, the American Medical Association, the Des Moines Academy of Medicine. The Medical Study Club of Des Moines and the Oto-Laryngological. He also holds membership in the Gold and Country Club, the American Legion, the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, the Phi Beta Phi medical fraternity, the Masons and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He and Mrs. McCoy both belong to the First Methodist Episcopal Church, in the work of which they have taken a keen interest and active part both in the church and Sunday School. During the World war Doctor McCoy enlisted in the army, and at present is a member of the Naval Reserves.

In 1922 Doctor McCoy was united in marriage with Miss Dorcas Baker, whose parents died when she was a child. She was reared in the home of an aunt and completed her education at the East Des Moines High School. They are the parents of one son: Robert Sherman, born November 17, 1925.